There are many devices available in the market to aid a person in losing weight. Intragastric balloon has become one of the popular treatments for losing weight because it is considered a non-surgical procedure and non-pharmaceutical treatment. When in use, the balloon is placed in the stomach and inflated so that it will partially fill the stomach to give the feeling of satiety. The balloon would stay in the stomach for a period of time and over time, the person may lose weight. At the end of the treatment, it would be removed surgically. There have been several disclosures of intragastric balloon previously.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,315 (Berman et al.), it disclosed a system which includes an inflatable bag and a flexible tube attached to it. The bag is to be swallowed by the user and the tube extends from the bag, through the user's esophagus and out from his or her nasal cavity or mouth. To inflate the bag, fluid is supplied from the free end of the tube. Once inflated, the bag will occupy some volume in the user's stomach, and hence reduce the amount of food intake by the user to feel satiety. Alternatively, the tube extends from the bag through the stomach wall. However this system is not desirable because it is uncomfortable to have a tube in the esophagus, or it involves surgery to insert the balloon. Further, this system requires an endoscopic procedure to insert the balloon which may cause the user discomfort.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,579,301, it disclosed a bladder inflating device which consists of a flexible bladder, a relatively rigid reservoir attach to the bladder, and an inflation/deflation system that permits the movement of the fluid from the reservoir into the bladder. Various systems were disclosed to move or permit movement of the fluid e.g. a pump system using the piston and spring force to pump the fluid from the reservoir into the bladder, a heating element to boil the fluid and make the fluid expand through a valve to inflate the bladder, and a thermally conductive bladder to boil the fluid inside the bladder by a hot liquid consumed by the user. The system is battery powered and has a control system to automatically activate the inflation/deflation system or is activated by surrounding conditions e.g. temperature or pressure in the stomach. The disclosure is not desirable due to several reasons. Firstly, the usage of a pump would require large power consumption and power consumption is an aspect in intragastric balloon system. Secondly, the heating element may require even larger power consumption and the temperature imbalance may irritate or injure the user.